CREDITS
Commissioned as part of the ‘ASQ Encore’ project with funds received from Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund, and made possible with thanks to generous support form the Thyne Reid Foundation.
Performed by the Australian String Quartet, 2020
Dale Barltrop – Violin I
Francesca Hiew – Violin II
Stephen King – Viola
Sharon Grigoryan – Cello
Composed by Harry Sdraulig, 2020
Produced by Jakub Gaudasinski
Recording Engineer Tom Henry
Mixed & Mastered by Jakub Gaudasinski
Recorded at ABC Adelaide, South Australia, Kaurna Country, October 2020
Artwork – Jim Tsinganos Illustration
Art Direction – Cul-de-Sac Creative
Angelina Zucco – ASQ Chief Executive
Sophie Emery ASQ Operations Manager
Special thanks to Harry Sdraulig for his valued support of this release.
PROGRAM NOTES
Swirl was commissioned by the Australian String Quartet with funds received from Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund. Intended as a concert opener or encore, Swirl is a lively work conceived in a single tempo which is subject to numerous metric modulations to generate contrast and build energy and acceleration.
BIOGRAPHY
Harry Sdraulig is a prolific Sydney-based composer and educator. His music – at turns serious, playful, contemplative, or exuberant – is characterised by its passionate melodic lyricism, harmonic richness, and intricacy of rhythmic interplay and drive.
In recent years, Harry’s work has risen to prominence through a string of commissions and performances by Australian and international arts organisations including the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Tasmanian, and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Goldner, Orava, and Australian String Quartets, Musica Viva Australia, the Australia Ensemble, the Australian National Academy of Music, PLEXUS, Syzygy Ensemble, Ensemble Three, and Ensemble Q. His Fantasia on Waltzing Matilda, commissioned by Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott and released by Sony Classical, is widely performed and broadcast internationally, whilst his piccolo concerto for Lloyd Hudson and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Icarus, was a finalist in the Large Ensemble category of the 2020 APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards. Harry has received numerous awards and prizes for composition including the Adolph Spivakovsky Award, Glen Johnston Composition Award, Arcadia Winds Composition Prize, Frank Albert Prize for Music, and the 2020 Fine Music Stefan Kruger Scholarship.
Harry’s music is published by Wirripang, QPress, and the Australian Music Centre for which he is a represented artist. He completed Bachelor of Music (Honours) and Master of Music degrees at the University of Melbourne and is presently undertaking a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Sydney, at which he also lectures in composition. As a passionate teacher, Harry holds the positions of Composer in Residence at both Abbotsleigh and International Grammar Schools.
